4 Big Reasons Why Businesses Should Exploit Social Media

As of September 2014, more than 1.35 billion active monthly users (and still counting) are reported to have used Facebook. Facebook, is just one of the many.

Marketing your product or brand these days is getting more competitive and sophisticated. The traditional methods like advertisements in television, radio and print media although effective and still the most widespread method used especially by large companies, is no longer sufficient with the changing and growing demands of this technology-oriented generation.

Internet has even infiltrated the daily lives of people, in their interactions and social activities especially that the internet can now be easily accessed using mobile phones. More people are spending most of their time in various social media sites, making them as best avenues to market and advertise your product and service.

1.)Some Hard Truths About Social Media

Social media sites are free, so it’s very useful for small and start-up brands with limited budget. Paid ads in social media is also very efficient since it can reach a large number of potential leads. In essence, it’s a great opportunity for you to build and develop your business.

Social media is also where the trends usually start and grow with its sharing and responsive functionality that easily makes things go viral. You’ll earn amassing new followers and brand mentions once you catch the critical eye of the netizens. Since social media is crowded with potential customers, why not get some piece of the pie?

2.)Social Signals As Ranking Factors

Numerous SEO’s and bloggers have offered data which implies social signals (such as likes and shares) appear to influence search rankings. While this matter is still debatable, integrating social media marketing into your SEO strategies might not sound goofy at all. SearchMetrics had conducted some studies to conclude that social signals take part in SEO.

There is correlation between social and SEO. Social signals are always good indicators that your content captures the taste of your viewers. Getting traction in social media could potentially help your content gain voluntary links which is what Google really want from you in order to place your site on top of those searches.

These are the very reasons why you should never neglect social in your marketing mix.

3.)Identifying Your Actual Audience Can Be A Lot Easier In Social Media

Buyer personas are imaginary, generalized illustration of your ideal customers. They help you understand your customers (and prospective customers) better, and make it easier for you to tailor content to the specific needs, behaviors, and concerns of different groups.

Here’s a sample of a buyer persona:

Tom is a 20-ish SEO enthusiast from the Philippines. He’s fond of computers and tech stuff and he’s an avid fan of search engine watch and search engine land. His line of work is related to marketing/technology since he loves SEO.

With the help of Facebook Ads, I could easily get my message out to Tom in no time.

Real value from your buyer personal needs well-researched data. Talking to your audience typical questions like what challenges are they facing, which group they spend most of their time to get valuable information, or what influence them buy a product can be done effectively when you are connected to them socially.

4.)Getting Tractions Are Dumb Easy

While there are several ways to increase web traffic, social media sites are surefire channels in spreading out your word in the web. Getting a good number of following will also give you an upperhand in your niche in the sense that you are slowly developing your online authority and web presence.

Here are some ways to get wins in social:

Rule Of Thumb: Engage. Remember that interaction and engagement are still the name of the game in social media. Be sure that you are approachable and accessible to your followers and clients such that you reply in a timely manner to their questions and respond courteously to their feedback whether good, bad or whatnot. You could build your credibility and make them feel that you do care about them. Such can be exercised by means of developing FB/LinkedIn groups or G+ communities/hangouts. Converse and just be around.

Consistency, Relevance and Sensible. With social media it is very important to be up-to-date, current and relevant. Keep in mind that you want to grab your target audience’s attention & keep their interest as well. It’s not easy to building up ample amount of loyal followers but you can get there by propelling messages that’s significant to your spectators, constantly.

Not just good content but of highest quality. The quality of your content and how effectively you present this is still the best salesman of your brand. Being clear and concise in your content and using carefully-chosen words can tap the senses of your audience. This will give your page the authenticity and credibility to win their trust. Integrate videos and pictures in your posts as visual images and graphics tend to grab and retain the attention of the readers. They also tend to leave a longer impression when paired wisely and economically with words. There is a good format you can use to woe your audience. Check out the anatomy of a perfect social media post.

The Pareto Principle Is Immensely Useful. Too much of something is bad and the right balance must be achieved to be a social media wonder. The 80/20 golden rule is to have a proportion of just 20 percent of your posts to 80 percent of people’s posts in your page or about you. With this strategy you avoid in overwhelming your target audience and flooding their feeds and notifications especially if it is just recurring information, as this might put them off. Timing is important. Have regularly-timed posts that your followers could look forward to.

Spark Connections With Creativity and Humor. Getting the attention of your target audience is your primary goal in social media marketing, but keeping it must be your constant and long-term drive to keep your page up and running. Hold contests, question and answers and trivia games as these will surely pique their interest and keep them engaged in your page.

Final Thoughts

It’s never an option for any business, big or small, to claim their social media accounts and go all-out. Separating yourself from the noise and by becoming a thought-leader in your niche, you can build up a huge following in social media.

Your social media pages must not only contain information about you and your product but it must also be authentic, credible, interesting, and engaging so your target audience will feel at home and will keep on coming back for more.

Fervil Von Tripoli is a freelance search engine optimization specialist and the lead SEO of FV SEO Ph, a Philippine-based SEO outsourcing agency. Fervil Von has 4 years of mixed experience in online marketing, SEO and social media marketing. You can connect with him in Facebook and Twitter.